A round-by-round account of the welterweight showdown between champion Oscar De La Hoya and "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather from MGM Grand in Las Vegas:
Unofficial Scorecard
Round
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
De La Hoya
9 10 9 9 9 10 10 9 9 9 9 10
Mayweather
10 9 10 10 10 9 9 10 10 10 10 9
Round 1
Lefts from Mayweather to start. Mayweather lands a right to the chin out of a clinch. De La Hoya flurries with lefts in close. Mayweather circling, sticking out left jabs. Oscar tries to close, but Floyd ties him up. Oscar needs to start cutting off the ring, or this could be a long night.
Dan Rafael scores it: De La Hoya, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Round 2
Stiff jabs from Oscar. Oscar lands a hook to the head, and flurries against the ropes, but Floyd slips most of them. Left-right-left from De La Hoya. Oscar backs Floyd to the ropes and flurries. De La Hoya tries to bully Mayweather as Floyd clinches. A lot of these punches are glancing off Mayweather's gloves and shoulders, but they are scoring. A much better round for De La Hoya.
Dan Rafael scores it: De La Hoya, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it: De La Hoya, 10-9
Round 3
De La Hoya attacking with hooks. Jabs snap back Mayweather's head. Oscar backs Floyd into corner and unloads. Mayweather circles, pops out jabs. Overhand right from Mayweather, and another. De La Hoya throws combination in corner, but Mayweather slips many of them. De La Hoya's round, but later momentum of the round may be shifting back to Floyd, who seems to be timing Oscar again.
Dan Rafael scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it: De La Hoya, 10-9
Round 4
Lead left hook lands flush from Oscar, and more lefts cause Floyd to go backward. Strong overhand rights from Floyd. Oscar lands repeated punches to Floyd's body in the corner. Another good overhand right from Floyd. Oscar lands big left hook against ropes at the bell to steal the round.
Dan Rafael scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it: De La Hoya, 10-9
Round 5
Good overhand right from Floyd. Left-right from Floyd, flurry from Oscar, straight right from Floyd. Left-right combination from Floyd. Left-right from Floyd. Another strong right from Floyd, who has clearly decided that that is his preferred weapon. Oscar suddenly looking a bit ragged in there.
Dan Rafael scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Round 6
Short uppercut through the guard from Mayweather. De La Hoya flurries against the ropes, but everything bounces off Floyd's arms and gloves. Double left hook from Floyd. Sweeping right hand just misses from Floyd. De La Hoya lands a short right inside and Mayweather immediately retaliates. Brief exchange at the bell, but Mayweather's are the sharper, more accurate, heavier punches. Right now, Mayweather is timing De La Hoya beautifully with a straight left followed by an overhand right and Oscar doesn't appear to have an answer.
Dan Rafael scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Round 7
Oscar tries some big punches with Floyd's back against the ropes, but Floyd twists and turns and nullifies most of them. Stiff jabs from De La Hoya. A pair of overhand rights land to the temple from Mayweather. Left upstairs and right to the body from Floyd. De La Hoya flurries again with Mayweather's back to the ropes. Mayweather was much less busy in that round, but still probably landed the more effective punches.
Dan Rafael scores it: De La Hoya, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Round 8
Left-right-left lands from De La Hoya, followed by another stiff left. Mayweather misses with a sweeping right, lands a short left inside and then a short right. Short lead left hook from Mayweather. Short right from Floyd. Oscar flurries and tries to steal round at the end.
Dan Rafael scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Round 9
Stiff jabs from De La Hoya, but a solid right hand lands from Floyd. Beautiful six-punch sequence from Floyd, beginning with short uppercut and ending with overhand right. Oscar flurries again, but Mayweather parries very well with his arms. Right hand downstairs from Floyd is borderline, but he lands a solid right to the head. Straight right from Floyd.
Dan Rafael scores it: De La Hoya, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Round 10
Mayweather throws a pair of left-right combinations, half blocked by De La Hoya. Mayweather lands a short right, slips under De La Hoya's jab and moves away. Mayweather trying to fight small, going into a crouch and looking for a way inside. Left hand from Mayweather misses but a straight right hand at the bell lands right on the chin.
Dan Rafael scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it:
Round 11
Mayweather lands another overhand right and follows with a stiff left. Good right hand from De La Hoya, but a better one in return from Mayweather. Again, Mayweather lands with the short lead right hand. Big right from Oscar near the end of the round. Oscar is trying to make a fight of it.
Dan Rafael scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Round 12
Right hand from De La Hoya to open. Flurry from Oscar in close. Two straight rights blocked by Oscar. De La Hoya flails at Mayweather's body against the ropes. De La Hoya flurries in center ring, Mayweather responds with solid right. Ten seconds to go and the crowd goes completely wild as the two men exchange furiously at the bell. A very technical, but very skilled and very good, fight.
Dan Rafael scores it: Mayweather, 10-9
Kieran Mulvaney scores it: De La Hoya, 10-9
By split decision (115-113, De La Hoya; 116-112, 115-113, Floyd Mayweather) "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather (38-0) becomes the new WBC junior middleweight champion.
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com. Kieran Mulvaney is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. He covers boxing for ESPN.com, Reuters and TigerBoxing.com.
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